1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to information technology (IT), and more particularly, to a computer platform operating system compatibility management method and system which is designed for use in conjunction with a computer platform, such as a network server, for the computer platform to be selectively bootable between an old-version operating system (such as Windows NT4.0) and a new-version operating system (such as Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000).
2. Description of Related Art
In the applications of network systems, Microsoft Corporation has introduced a series of server-oriented operating systems, including the earlier Windows NT4.0, Windows 2000, and the more advanced Windows Server 2003.
Although Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 are more advanced operating systems for servers, many enterprises nowadays are still using the earlier old-version Windows NT4.0 and reluctant to make upgrade for the following reasons: (1) established familiarity with Windows NT4.0; (2) many existing application programs were built on Windows NT4.0 and upgrade to new-version operating systems could result in compatibility problems that would be highly cost consuming; (3) application programs running on Windows NT4.0 are already satisfactory for most business needs so that upgrade is considered unnecessary; and (4) upgrade to new-version operating system could result in system instability and costly maintenance. For these reasons, most enterprises nowadays are only willing to upgrade hardware and have no intention to upgrade Windows NT4.0 to more advanced operating systems such as Windows Server 2003.
As a result, server manufacturers nowadays are still often asked by their enterprise customers to offer servers that support Windows NT4.0. In practical implementation, however, in order to allow today's newer and more advanced servers to support the old-version Windows NT4.0, it would often result in hardware incompatibility problems. For instance, the Intel Server Chipset SE75xx series define a new memory area called “T-segment” to serve as a storage area for storing SMI (System Management Interrupt) handling routines and related data. Many BIOS products, such as those offered by the Phoenix Corporation, support the T-segment storage area in memory. However, the use of T-segment with the Windows NT4.0 would undesirably result in hardware incompatibility problems. For example, during the installation of Windows NT4.0, it would cause the operating system to be unable to gain access to the floppy disk drive; i.e., if a server is equipped with Phoenix BIOS which utilizes a T-segment to serve as a storage area for storing SMI handling routines and related data, it would cause problem to the installation of Windows NT4.0 since the use of the T-segment would cause the floppy disk drive to be inaccessible, and since Windows NT4.0 requires the use of a floppy disk drive for installation and no other alternative methods are available, the installation of Windows NT4.0 would be unsuccessful. This problem is due to the fact that during the installation of Windows NT4.0, the installation program will search for available storage space in the Logical CPU MTRR block (where CPU=Central Processing Unit, and MTRR=Memory Type Range Register); and if the T-segment is found to be usable, it will utilize the T-segment as a usable storage area and then write a set of parameter data (such as a set of operating parameters for floppy disk drive) into the T-segment. However, since T-segment has a closed access attribute, it would undesirably cause the parameter data written into the T-segment to be later unable to be read out, thus causing the floppy disk drive to become inaccessible by the operating system. A user who requires the use of the floppy disk drive to load a driver during the Windows NT 4.0 installation process (for example, a SCSI driver will need to be loaded via the floppy disk drive so as to drive a SCSI controller that enables Windows NT 4.0 to be successfully installed in the SCSI hard disk) will not be able to install successfully.